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A 
Substitute 
for  War 

Percy  MacKaye 

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WORKS  BY  PERCY  MACKAYE 


DRAMAS 

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A   SUBSTITUTE   FOR   WAR. 

AT  ALL  BOOKSELLERS 


A  SUBSTITUTE   FOR   WAR 


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THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

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ATLANTA   •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

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THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


A    SUBSTITUTE 
FOR  WAR 

BY 

PERCY   MACKAYE 


WITH   AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

IRVING  FISHER,   Ph.D. 

PEOrBSSOB  OF   ECONOMICS   AT    TALE   UNIVEB8ITT 
AND   WITH   PREFATOKT    LETTERS    BY 

The  Eight  Hon.  VISCOUNT  BRYCE,  O.M. 

rOEMEELY   AMBA8BAD0R  FKOM    GBEAT   BRITAIN 
AND 

NORMAN  ANGELL 

AUTHOE   OF   "  THE  GBEAT  ILLC8I0N  " 


Nefaj  §0rfe 

THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1915 

AU  rights  reserved 


COPTEIGHT,  1915, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  October,  1915. 


Noriuoob  ^reaa 

J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


4^' 


INTRODUCTION 

When  Colonel  Waring  adopted  a 
white  uniform  for  the  street  cleaners 
of  New  York  City,  some  people  were 
inclined  to  smile,  and  some  were  puzzled 
to  understand  the  purpose  in  view ;  but, 
after  the  first  street-cleaners'  parade, 
there  was  a  chorus  of  approval.  Street 
cleaning  suddenly  seemed  to  assume  a 
certain  dignity,  when  our  attention  was 
turned  from  dirt  to  cleanliness  and  from 
the  forlorn  individual  sweeper  at  the 
crossing  to  the  mighty  host  of  the  De- 
fenders of  a  City. 

Since  the  general  public  always  fails 
to  catch  the  higher    overtones  in  com- 

5 


» 


6  INTRODUCTION 

mon  life  until  some  bright  symbolism 
reveals  them,  we  may  well  pay  heed 
to  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  MacKaye  that 
the  social  service  of  to-day  should  be 
clothed  in  brighter  garments  and  ex- 
pressed in  clearer  symbols.  Its  real 
splendor  will  then  be  recognized  through 
the  splendor  of  its  expression. 

For  years  social  reformers  in  Saint 
Louis  advocated  the  pressing  need  of 
a  new  charter  for  their  city ;  but  almost 
nothing  was  accomplished  until  the  vivid 
symbolism  devised  by  Mr.  MacKaye 
in  the  "Pageant  and  Masque  of  Saint 
Louis"  fired  the  imagination  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  citizens,  and,  through 
them,  aroused  the  dormant  civic  pride 
of  a  whole  city.  The  result  was  that  a 
new  charter  was  adopted  within  a  few 
weeks  after  that  memorable  festival. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

The  average  man,  without  the  drama- 
tist's vision,  would  never  have  dreamed 
of  such  effects  from  such  causes.  But 
recently,  a  year  after  the  event,  the 
INIayor  of  Saint  Louis  publicly  testified 
to  these  effects  and  the  great  practical 
benefits  resulting  to  his  city  from  the 
Pageant  and  Masque. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  incorrect  to 
say  that  dramatic  accoutrements  con- 
stitute the  main  realities  either  in  war, 
or  substitutes  for  war;  they  simply 
magnify  the  appeal  of  these  realities 
to  popular  imagination. 

The  armies  of  Peace  have  a  nobler 
kind  of  work  to  do  than  the  armies  of 
war,  and  their  work  often  requires  as 
much  courage  and  self-sacrifice.  Yet 
they  do  not  fascinate  as  war  fascinates, 
for  the  reason  that  they  are,  as  Mr. 


8  INTRODUCTION 

MacKaye  says,  "drab."  As  he  points 
out,  they  have  no  bright  uniforms,  flags, 
ballads,  brass  bands,  or  other  forms  of 
dramatic  interpretation. 

We  have  plenty  of  statistics,  surveys, 
reports,  and  other  data  of  science,  but 
the  art  of  marshalling  these  data  is  lack- 
ing. Until  science  is  clothed  in  art,  it 
will  not  appeal  to  the  multitude. 

We  have,  for  instance,  more  scientific 
knowledge  of  health  and  disease  than 
the  ancient  Greeks;  but  the  Greeks 
had  more  actual  health  than  we,  for 
with  them  health  was  loved  as  some- 
thing beautiful  and  noble,  and  it  was 
loved  largely  because  of  Greek  art, 
sculpture  and  drama.  From  these  causes, 
their  popular  consciousness  held  vivid 
health  ideals  of  which  our  present  civil- 
ization has  no  adequate  conception. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

Some  of  us,  including  Mr.  MacKaye, 
are  hoping  to  see  these  ideals  revived. 
If  he  and  his  co-laborers  in  art  can  em- 
blazon the  dull  dicta  of  science  in  letters 
of  gold,  the  health  movement,  the  peace 
movement,  and  other  movements  for 
social  service  may  yet  become  effectual 
substitutes  for  war. 

IRVING  FISHER. 

Yale  University, 

Department  of  Political  Economy, 

June,  1915. 


PREFATORY  LETTERS 

May  24th,  1915. 

HiNDLEAP, 

Forest  Row, 

Sussex. 
Dear  Mr.  MacKate: 

I  thank  you  for  letting  me  see  your 
interesting  and  suggestive  article  on 
"A  Substitute  for  War"  in  the  North 
American  Review. 

You  have  touched  upon  a  deep  prob- 
lem which  has  long  occupied  my  mind, 
and  doubtless  many  minds :  how  is 
the  world,  and  especially  how  are  the 
poets  and  balladists,  to  get  on  without 
War  as  a  theme  ? 

11 


12  PREFATORY   LETTERS 

Doubtless  they  ought  to  set  them- 
selves to  consider  what  charms  of  im- 
agination and  embellishments  of  art 
can  be  used  to  make  peace  and  its  ways 
and  emotions  as  attractive  as  warlike 
deeds  have  been  since  the  war  of  Troy 
and  the  battle  of  Deborah  and  Barak 
against  Sisara  the  captain  of  the  hosts 
of  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor. 

A  great  task!  May  you,  and  other 
poets  of  America,  which  has  a  truer  and 
warmer  feeling  for  peace  than  any  other 
country,  prosper  in  it ! 

Sincerely  yours, 

James  Bryce. 


>■«( 


PREFATORY   LETTERS  13 


New  York, 

June  28th,  1915. 
My  dear  MacKaye: 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  feel  the 
importance  of  the  problem  suggested  in 
your  article.  This  "disease  of  drab" 
is  not  a  minor  detail  of  the  problem  of 
peace  but  may  of  itself  render  all  our 
efforts  in  that  cause  vain  unless  we  can 
deal  with  it.  If  the  price  of  peace  is 
to  be  a  world  of  elderly  Puritans,  I  am 
afraid  —  or  rather,  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  come  after  us,  I  am  glad  —  that 
youth  and  feeling  and  enthusiasms  will 
never  allow  it  to  be  paid. 

I   have  always  taken  the  view  that 


14  PREFATORY  LETTERS 

there  is  nothing  fundamentally  bad  in 
many  of  the  instincts  associated  with 
war;  that  they  are  indeed  often  funda- 
mentally good  but  need  to  be  canalized 
and  transmuted  by  our  controlling  in- 
telligence and  imagination.  The  same 
instincts  of  heroism,  courage,  pugnacity, 
adventure  may  expend  themselves  in 
equal  degree  upon  a  cannibal  raid  or  a 
reformer's  fight  against  corruption  and 
oppression. 

After  all,  man's  hunger  and  thirst  for 
color  and  rhythm,  for  sacrifice  and 
dedication  to  large  and  visible  ends,  for 
companionship  in  movement  and  dan- 
ger, are  as  much  simple  facts  of  his 
nature  as  are  his  physical  needs.  And 
those  things  must  be  a  part  of  his  life, 
not  merely  spectacular  relaxation  sepa- 
rated from  daily  realities. 


PREFATORY   LETTERS  15 

One  is  glad,  therefore,  to  see  your 
emphasis  on  the  fact  that  the  pageant 
must  not  be  a  detached  spectacle.  There 
is  a  further  danger,  which  would  not  be 
a  great  one  if  we  could  be  sure  that  all 
pageants  could  be  work  like  your  own. 
But  we  know  that  in  the  past  art  in 
various  forms  has  attempted  to  sym- 
bolize and  render  visible  the  battle 
drama  of  life  and  work  by  "faking  a 
photograph  of  the  dirty  business  of 
war"  —  covering  up  the  dirt  with  grease 
paint.  Such  work  has  not  the  effect 
of  dramatizing  peace  but  of  disguising 
the  real  nature  of  war. 

The  danger  of  this  in  the  hands  of 
lesser  men  is  very  real.  For  war  is  it- 
self a  pageant  and  a  drama,  and  unlike 
peace  relieves  us  of  any  need  of  imagina- 
tion.    ^Yar  is  itself  action,  and  action 


16  PREFATORY   LETTERS 

en  masse,  with  all  the  elements  of  the 
theatre  inherent  in  its  nature.  A  mov- 
ing picture  of  it  suffices  to  give  us  the 
dramatic  reaction.  You  cannot  take  a 
moving  picture  of  life  as  a  whole  and 
get  the  same  result. 

The  difficulties,  therefore,  are  enor- 
mous and  we  shall  not  perhaps  get 
very  near  to  solving  them  until  we  have 
something  in  the  nature  of  William 
James's  Social  Conscription:  all  our 
dangerous  work — life-boat  service,  deep- 
sea  fisheries,  mine-rescue  squads,  and  so 
forth  —  done  by  a  social  army  of  3''oung 
athletes;  a  service  as  highly  considered 
as  that  of  the  army  to-day,  decked  out 
with  all  its  pictorial  appeal. 

I  am  hoping  that  you  will  one  day 
apply  your  genius  in  this  even  more  direct 
way  to  this  very  difficult  problem.     In 


PREFATORY   LETTERS  17 

any  case  you  have  my  heartiest  good 
wishes  for  continued  success  in  that 
phase  which  you  have  already  made 
your  own. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Norman  Angell. 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR 
WAR 


o 


N  a  battlefield  of  northern 
France  the  sun  had  just  set. 
After  hours  of  bloody  fighting, 
the  enemy  had  retreated.  Except  for 
the  dead  and  dying,  the  field  was  almost 
deserted. 

Seated  on  a  round,  stumplike  object, 
one  lonely  figure,  huge  and  forlorn, 
loomed  in  the  crimson  glow. 

He  was  dressed  in  gorgeous  regalia, 
almost  unscotched  by  the  grime  of 
battle.  His  big  shoulders  drooped.  In 
one  hand  he  held  a  little  rod  of  dark 
wood.     He  stared  at  it  dumbly. 

19 


20  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

Suddenly  out  of  the  dusk  a  detach- 
ment of  French  troopers  approached 
and  surrounded  him. 

"  Surrender,  or  be  shot ! " 

The  figure  sthred  with  slow  dignity, 
but  deigned  no  reply.  Instead,  he  raised 
the  little  rod  to  his  bearded  face  and 
kissed  it. 

Struck  with  curiosity,  the  Frenchmen 
—  who  were  peasants  —  examined  their 
prisoner  more  closely:  scarlet,  blue, 
gold,  orange  —  a  superb  uniform ;  the 
breast  and  shoulders  gleaming  with 
decorations,  badges,  and  prismatic 
emblems ! 

Here  was  no  common  soldier  in  gray 
field-clothes.  Not  so;  unmistakably  he 
had  the  air  of  a  commander  —  a  dreamy 
pathos,  a  disdainful  scorn  of  their 
presence. 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  21 

Their  Gallic  imaginations  took  fire. 
They  whispered  together. 

^Miom  could  they  have  captured:  a 
general  ?  —  a  prince  ? 

He  carried  no  weapons,  but  —  that 
little  black  rod :  he  had  kissed  it ! 

Might  it  be— ?  [They  had  heard  of 
scepters.]  Might  this  really  be  —  a 
king  ?  —  or  the  war-lord  of  some  im- 
perial principality,  scornful  of  flight, 
grandly  stoical  in  defeat? 

Their  peasant  hearts  fluttered. 

"Who  are  you?"  their  leader  asked 
in  German. 

"Who  I  am!"  retorted  the  huge 
figure  with  melancholy  disdain.  "My 
God !  I  am  the  Imperial  Band-Master." 

This  anecdote  —  cabled  last  autumn 
from  the  front  to  the  American  press  — 


22  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

whether  it  be  truth  or  fiction,  conveys 
an  apt  symbol  for  the  theme  of  this 
article. 

Those  French  peasants  showed  a  subtle 
intuition  in  their  awed  estimate  of  their 
prize.  They  had  caught  —  not  King 
nor  Kaiser,  to  be  sure,  but  a  far  mightier 
personage. 

Throned  on  a  drum  and  sceptered  with 
a  baton,  clothed  in  the  gorgeous  habili- 
ments of  pageantry,  the  Imperial  Band- 
master —  to-day  as  ever  —  is  overlord 
of  the  battlefields  of  Europe,  the  master 
director  of  all  belligerents.  Whoever 
wins,  his  throne  is  not  shaken;  though 
Czar  or  Kaiser  fall,  his  sceptre  remains 
unchallenged.  Empires  and  democracies 
alike  are  his  domain,  where  he  has  lorded 
it  over  millions  of  loyal  subjects  for  ten 
thousands  of  years.     "  Vivat  Imperator  ! " 


A   SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  23 

"Hoch  der  Kaiser!"  "Vive  la  Repub- 
lique!"  "God  save  the  King!"  —  to  the 
vast  encore  of  those  world  plaudits  he 
responds  with  perennial  baton,  and  bows 
his  smiling  acknowledgments.  For  his 
domain,  as  old  and  elemental  as  man,  is 
the  empire  of  Art  —  the  realm  of  music, 
color,  dance,  symbolism,  pageantry,  where 
his  imperial  palace  is  the  theatre. 

Throughout  human  history  this  mon- 
arch of  art  has  never  been  dethroned. 
He  can  never  be  detlironed,  for  he  alone 
reigns  by  divine  right  —  the  might  of 
imagination.  Master  director  of  his 
theatre  [in  the  soul  of  man],  he  has  ever 
sought  his  most  vital  expression  in  dra- 
matic conflict,  wherein  his  most  grandly 
executed  compositions  have  been  wars. 

Yet  must  this  ever  be  so?  May  not 
the  growth  of  his  art  develop  forms  of 


24  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

dramatic  conflict  which  shall  be  more 
gloriously  expressible  in  beauty  and  joy 
than  in  blood  and  suffering  ? 

This  question  [which  involves  the  uses 
of  the  art  of  the  theatre]  is  probably  the 
most  important  question  to-day  for  the 
world  to  answer : 

Is  there  a  substitute  for  war? 

"When  peace  is  made  as  handsome 
as  war,"  said  the  President  of  the  United 
States  in  a  recent  speech,  "there  will  be 
hope  of  war's  passing."  This  pregnant 
phrase  was  but  a  fleeting  remark  of  the 
President,  not  elaborated  nor  urged 
further  upon  the  thought  of  our  people, 
yet  it  involves  an  idea  of  deepest  public 
importance. 

It  is  hardly  conceivable,  in  short,  that 
human  beings  should  for  ages  have  en- 
dured the  organized  waste  and  torture 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  25 

of  war  if  the  magician  Art  had  not  hyp- 
notized their  imaginations  and  led  them 
by  glorious  visions  to  the  charnels  of 
battlefields. 

For  let  us  remember  it  is  art  —  the 
colorful  art  of  the  theatre,  its  music, 
spectacle,  and  symbolism  put  to  war's 
purposes  —  which  has  exerted  this  hyp- 
notism toward  destruction.  In  this  time 
of  world  havoc,  therefore,  shall  we  not 
ask  ourselves : 

How  may  the  glorious  visions  of  dra- 
matic art  lure  the  imaginations  of  men 
away  from  war  to  peace? 

How  may  peace  be  made  "as  hand- 
some as  war,"  and  as  compelling? 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  "hand- 
someness" of  war,  and  some  of  the  ugli- 
ness of  peace,  as  these  exist. 

War  is  made  splendid  by  noble  human 


26  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

attributes  :  by  self-sacrifice,  courage, 
patience,  enkindled  will  power;  it 
creates  out  of  petty  dissensions,  as  by 
magic,  the  majestic  solidarity  of  a 
people;  within  national  boundaries,  it 
exalts  social  service. 

For  these  valid  attributes  and  incen- 
tives, the  devisers  of  war  create  magnif- 
icent symbols.  Under  their  expert  con- 
trol, the  chaotic,  drifting,  meanly  com- 
petitive life  of  everyday  peace  becomes 
transfigured  by  order,  discipline,  organ- 
ization, imbued  with  a  majestic  unity  of 
design :  tJie  enacting  of  a  national  drama, 
in  which  tlie  people  themselves  participate. 

Statesmen  and  military  leaders  —  rec- 
ognizing what  the  disciples  of  peace 
ignore  —  utilize  the  full  potency  of  the 
imaginative  arts  born  of  the  theatre,  and 
employ  for  their  ends  the  ecstasy  and 


A   SUBSTITUTE   FOR   WAR  27 

pomp  of  music  and  pageantry  with  a 
perfection  of  "stage  management"  that 
would  stagger  a  Reinhardt.  Symbolism 
they  call  to  their  aid,  to  provide  for 
patriotism  her  radiant  flags  and  uni- 
forms. The  art  of  the  music-maker 
peals  in  brass  to  the  multitude.  Poetry 
and  dance  stride  forth,  like  strange 
colossi,  in  the  public  squares,  exhorting 
the  populace  with  rhytluns  of  marching 
regiments,  that  leap  forth  like  glorious 
stanzas  on  the  breath  of  a  rhapsodist. 
A  choral  shout  —  as  old  as  the  chanting 
of  Homer  —  invokes  and  unifies  the 
nation. 

Yes,  the  designers  of  war  are  masters 
of  imaginative  appeal.  Of  the  realism 
of  war  —  of  death,  mutilation,  hate, 
hunger,  rape,  stench,  disease,  bonded 
generations,    and    national    debt  —  they 


28  A   SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

are  purposely  uneloquent.  Instead  — 
and  wisely,  for  their  ends  —  they  exalt 
war's  self-sacrifice,  heroism,  solidarity; 
and  for  these  they  create  impassioned 
symbols  of  color  and  grandeur. 

In  rivalry  with  these  radiant  appeals 
the  artless  disciples  of  peace  present 
—  what  ? 

Their  meek  s;yTQbol  —  a  dove. 

Now  nothing  may  be  more  potent  to 
the  multitude  than  a  symbol.  The 
flaming  colors  of  a  flag  have  set  cities 
on  fire ;  the  refrain  of  a  song  has  wrought 
revolution.  The  cartoonist  interprets 
the  vast  social  forces  of  his  time  almost 
wholly  through  symbols.  In  appealing 
to  the  popular  imagination,  therefore, 
it  is  of  prime  importance  to  a  cause 
whether  its  symbols  are  dynamic  or 
anaemic. 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  29 

Of  all  causes  in  history  the  cause  of 
international  peace  is  probably  the 
noblest,  yet  — of  all  sjinbols  appealing 
to  the  world's  imagination  —  its  symbol, 
the  dove,  is  probably  the  most  anaemic. 
Some  other,  more  compelling,  must  take 
its  place  before  its  cause  can  plead  effect- 
ually against  that  of  its  rival.  The 
Dove  is  no  match  for  the  Devil.  If 
War  is  ever  to  be  vanquished,  it  will  be 
by  St.  George  or  Raphael,  not  by  the 
bird  of  Noah.  In  brief,  it  is  only  Peace 
Militant,  not  Peace  Dormant,  that  can 
supplant  the  heroic  figure  of  War  in 
the  hearts  of  the  nations. 

But  by  Peace  Militant  I  do  not  mean 
Peace  panoplied  upon  dreadnoughts, 
glaring  at  her  image  in  two  oceans 
through  Krupp-steel  binoculars;  for 
such  is  that  false  Peace,  no  other  than 


30  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

War  disguised,  which  betrayed  the  world 
in  August,  1914. 

No;  I  mean  by  Peace  Militant  — 
not  War  disguised  as  a  hypocritical  time- 
server,  but  War  self-purged  and  self- 
subdued  to  the  functions  of  social  ser- 
vice :  not  Peace  armed  with  a  sword, 
but  Peace  armed  with  the  symhol  of  a 
sword  —  that  "moral  equivalent  of  war" 
of  which  William  James  has  written  with 
wise  eloquence. 

But  the  mere  existence  of  a  moral 
equivalent  is  not  enough;  it  must  be 
made  effectual.  Social  service  exists 
among  all  peoples,  but  it  is  not  made 
to  appeal  sufficiently  to  popular  imagi- 
nation. 

My  object,  then,  in  this  essay  is  to  sug- 
gest that  the  "moral  equivalent  of  war" 
can  be  made  fascinating  and  effectual  by 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  31 

utilizing  [and  perhaps  only  hy  utilizing] 
the  dynamic  arts  of  the  theatre  to  give  it 
symbolical  expression. 

Thus  a  practical  substitute  for  the 
dramatic  conflict  of  war  would  be  its 
moral  equivalent  expressed  through  the 
manifold  forms  of  dramatic  art. 

James  urged  the  doctrine  of  his  "  moral 
equivalent"  as  a  philosopher,  and  his 
philosophy  is  sound.  But  the  people 
are  not  persuaded  by  philosophers,  how- 
ever masterful  in  ideas;  they  are  only 
persuaded  by  artists,  masterful  in  art. 

The  people  themselves  hardly  realize 
this,  yet  daily  by  millions  they  are  con- 
jured by  their  artists  of  the  theatre  as 
by  magicians.  Therefore  it  greatly  be- 
hooves our  artists  to  build  upon  sound 
philosophy;  but,  above  all,  it  behooves 
our  people,  if  they  believe  in  self-govern- 


32  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

merit,  to  recognize  the  overwhelming 
power  of  dramatic  art  and  their  own  sus- 
ceptibiHty  to  it. 

In  seeking,  then,  a  moral  equivalent 
of  war,  what  moral  equivalents  do  we 
find  under  the  conditions  of  peace? 

In  business,  the  prevailing  conditions 
of  peace  are  drab  and  selfish;  its  dra- 
matic conflicts  are  sordid,  petty,  when 
individualistic;  and  when  they  are  cor- 
porate they  are  no  less  sordid  on  their 
vaster  scale.  Industrialism  is  so  con- 
taminated by  suffering,  disease,  injustice, 
ugliness,  ennui,  death,  hatred,  and  dulled 
despair,  that  to  millions  of  laborers  the 
conditions  of  war  seem  hopeful  and  vis- 
ionary in  comparison. 

These  are  fundamental  facts  which 
all  workers  for  permanent  peace  must 
face  in  their  problem.    The  conditions 


A   SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  33 

of  industrialism,  in  short,  are  war, 
stripped  of  its  dignity  and  national 
solidarity. 

As  superstructure  upon  this  sordid 
base  rises  the  dwelling  of  conventional 
calm  we  call  "peace,"  wherein  the  mi- 
nority thousands  pass  their  lives  in  com- 
parative satisfaction  and  leisure. 

These  drab,  chaotic,  suffering  condi- 
tions of  our  "peace,"  however,  are  trans- 
figured by  the  ever-growing  numbers  of 
those  who  are  working  to  make  them 
lovelier  and  more  just. 

Among  these  are  dedicated  groups  — 
workers  in  settlements,  workers  for  public 
health,  for  the  conservation  of  nature, 
for  scientific  inventions,  for  popular  edu- 
cation, for  solidarity  in  labor,  for  eman- 
cipation of  women  and  children,  and  for 
scores  of  other  civilized  objects.    These, 


34  A   SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

separately  banded  together,  constitute 
separate  armies  of  social  service.  In 
each  we  find  at  work  the  moral  equiva- 
lents of  war  —  self-sacrifice,  energized 
will,  solidarity,  courageous  fighting  devo- 
tion to  a  cause  deemed  holy. 

Here,  then,  in  our  midst  the  moral 
equivalents  of  war  are  actively  at  work 
for  social  regeneration.  But  are  they 
effectual  ?  What  is  wrong  with  the  work- 
ing of  these  equivalents  that  they  are 
unable  to  supplant  their  monstrous 
pseudotype  that  now  ravages  all  Europe  ? 

They  are  armies  of  social  service,  yes; 
but  they  are  not  yet  the  army :  they  are 
not  coordinated,  harmonized;  they  lack 
mutual  relationship  —  solidarity.  But 
social  service  is  one  cause,  not  many. 
It  has  many  banners,  but  only  one  valid 
flag  —  the  flag  of  brotherhood. 


A  SUBSTITUTE   FOR  WAR  35 

But  now  we  are  speaking  figuratively ; 
for  actually  these  armies  of  peace  have, 
with  few  exceptions,  no  adequate  sym- 
bols of  their  service  —  no  banners,  uni- 
forms, fighting  hymns,  rh}i:hmic  marches, 
pageantry  of  spiritual  meanings  made 
sensuous.  Instead,  their  officers  meet 
in  drab  committees,  their  constituents 
read  dry  pamphlets  in  separate  homes, 
or  in  offices  to  the  clicking  of  type- 
writers ;  or  at  best  they  gather  chaotic- 
ally together  in  a  rented  hall,  listening 
to  drab-coated  talkers  from  a  platform, 
or  waving  drab  hand-bills  for  rallying 
banners. 

Drab  —  that  is  their  disease. 

Their  dreams  are  more  glorious  than 
the  dreams  of  war:  their  dreams  are 
incarnadine,  flushed  with  fighting  angels ; 
but  they  clothe  them  —  and  they  stifle 


36  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

them  — in    drab.    That    is    their    dire 
heritage  from  the  Puritan. 

War's  ministers  are  wiser.  They  ac- 
knowledge the  eternal  pagan  in  mankind, 
and  utilize  it.^  Even  Cromwell  marched 
to  rhythmic  drums.  So  — to  cope  with 
war  —  the  organizers  of  peace  must 
acknowledge  man's  paganism,  and  exalt 
it. 

Such  is  the  basic  appeal  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army ;  and  such,  in  a  subtler  sense, 
is  the  secret  of  the  extraordinary  growth 
of  the  Boy  Scouts  organization  and  of 
the  Camp  Fire  Girls. 

1  The  modern  use  of  khaki  uniforms  is  a 
concession  to  drab,  under  compulsion  of  the 
practical  expediencies  of  field  fighting;  but 
it  is  an  exception  which  does  not  always  hold 
in  the  martial  dress-parades  of  peace,  and  in 
France  not  yet  on  the  battlefield.  Khaki, 
moreover,  though  drab,  remains  a  symbol 
romantic  to  the  popular  imagination. 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  37 

In  the  appeal  of  each,  idealism  adopts 
its  special  symbolism. 

General  Booth,  Thompson-Seton,  Ba- 
den-Powell, Luther  Gulick  —  each  in  his 
owTi  way  —  seeks  to  popularize  William 
James. 

The  moral  equivalents  of  war,  then, 
are  ineffectual  in  our  prevailing  society 
from  two  chief  causes : 

First,  the  fighting  armies  of  peace  are 
not  properly  organized;  and  secondly, 
their  functions  are  not  properly  sym- 
bolized. 

To  achieve  these  two  great  objects, 
mutually  related,  may  well  become  the 
function  of  a  new  profession  of  the 
twentieth  century  —  the  profession  of 
Civic  Engineering.  For  the  problems 
involved  are  so  large  and  various  that 
their  solution  takes  on  the  dignity  and 


38  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

efficiency  of  an  expert  science,  essentially 
related  to  that  which  has  solved  so 
grandly  problems  like  the  building  of 
the  Panama  Canal. 

To  achieve  the  first  object,  organiza- 
tion, will  require  the  directive  insight 
of  one  who  may  aptly  be  called  the  Po- 
litical Engineer;  to  achieve  the  second 
object,  symbolism,  will  require  the  Dra- 
matic Engineer. 

In  his  latest  volume,  "The  Happiness 
of  Nations,"  ^  James  MacKaye  has  con- 
tributed the  constructive  outline  of  a 
"beginning  in  political  engineering," 
based  on  the  clear-reasoned  philosophy 
of  his  larger  work,  "The  Economy  of 
Happiness."  In  an  organization  of  so- 
ciety such  as  he  there  suggests,  the  armies 
of  peace  might  permanently  establish 
1  B.  W.  Huebsch,  New  York,  1915. 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  39 

the  moral  equivalents  of  war.  To  our 
present  time,  when  the  happiness  of 
nations  w-as  never  more  crucially  at 
stake,  the  reasonings  of  his  volume  are 
deeply  pertinent.  As  related  to  this 
article,  they  apply  directly  to  the  real- 
ization of  the  first  object  above  referred 
to,  organization. 

Concerning  the  second  object,  dra- 
matic sjTiibolism,  I  may  perhaps  appro- 
priately close  these  suggestions  by  refer- 
ence to  recent  practical  observation 
and  experience  of  my  own. 

In  May,  1914,  the  "Pageant  and 
Masque  of  Saint  Louis  "  ^  [the  Pageant 
written  by  Thomas  Wood  Stevens,  the 
Masque  WTitten  by  myself  and  produced 
in  association  with  Joseph  Lindon  Smith, 
with  music  by  Frederick  S.  Converse], 
1  See  appendix,  page  47. 


40  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

was  given  out-of-doors  at  four  perform- 
ances by  more  than  seven  thousand  citi- 
zens of  Saint  Louis  before  audiences 
aggregating  half  a  million  people. 

The  task  of  that  production,  success- 
fully achieved  by  the  cooperation  and 
participation  of  a  great  modern  com- 
munity, was  one  which  truly  involved 
the  art  of  the  theatre  as  an  expert  form 
of  civic  engineering.  During  its  prepa- 
ration, its  vast-scale  activities  leavened 
the  people  with  the  moral  equivalents  of 
war:  self-sacrifice,  solidarity,  energized 
will,  militant  devotion  to  a  civic  cause  — 
these  were  truly  attained,  and  have  par- 
tially been  retained  during  the  months 
which  have  followed. 

These  objects,  moreover,  were  truly 
and  splendidly  symbolized  to  the  people 
by  means  of  the  color,  music,  pageantry, 


A  SUBSTITUTE   FOR  WAR  41 

dramatic  conflict  and  architectural  har- 
mony created  by  the  many-sided  art  of 
the  threatre  there  put  to  civic  uses. 

The  theme  itself  of  the  INIasque  —  the 
socialization  of  community  life  —  was 
expressed  not  by  a  superimposed  show, 
but  by  the  dramatic  revelation  of  a 
reality  it  had  helped  to  create;  by  an 
actual  regeneration  of  community  life, 
from  which  have  directly  resulted  —  as 
practical  acquisitions  to  Saint  Louis  — 
a  new  progressive  city  charter,  the  com- 
pletion of  a  municipal  bridge,  a  city 
choral  society,  and  the  hopeful  assurance 
of  a  great  out-door  theatre  of  the  people 
in  their  public  park. 

The  great  experiment  there  consum- 
mated so  successfully  may  well  lead  not 
only  to  its  emulation  elsewhere,  but  to 
the  national  consideration  of  the  art  of 


42  A   SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR 

the  theatre  in  a  new  Hght  —  the  light  of 
a  practical  science,  akin  to  engineering. 

The  present  time  is  peculiarly  auspi- 
cious for  this  widened  civic  scope  of  the 
theatre's  art.  On  the  one  hand,  that 
art  itself  —  rekindled  from  within  by 
the  constructive  discoveries  of  its  crea- 
tive artists  in  production,  architecture, 
music,  and  the  dance  —  stands  at  the 
threshold  of  a  splendid  renascence. 
On  the  other  hand  —  stirred  from  within 
by  the  portentous  menace  of  world  war 
—  civic  ardor  has  never  been  more 
deeply  roused  than  now  to  discover 
effectual  means  for  combating  the  enemies 
of  society  —  poverty,  disease,  unem- 
ployment, political  corruption,  and  all 
the  hosts  of  embattled  ignorance.  To 
this  war  against  all  social  and  economic 
causes   of    war   dramatic    art    offers    a 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  WAR  43 

popular  symbolism  of  magnificent  scope 
and  variety;  it  offers  a  new  method  of 
social  science. 

Thus,  developed  as  an  expert  profes- 
sion, this  potential  science  of  dramatic 
engineering  may  yet  become  a  powerful 
national  factor  in  organizing  militant 
social  service  as  an  effectual  substitute 
for  war. 

If  so  —  conversely  —  our  "  Imperial 
Band-Master"  may  yet  supplant  the 
"Dove"  by  our  troubled  waters,  and 
dedicate  his  baton  to  the  councils  and 
cabinets  of  peace. 


APPENDIX 

The  foregoing  pages  on  "A  Substitute 
for  War"  were  first  published  in  the 
North  American  Review,  May,  1915. 
The  ideas  there  set  forth  have  sprung 
from  some  years  of  thought  and  partici- 
pation in  two  fields  of  work  —  the  art 
of  the  theatre  and  civics. 

These  two  great  fields  of  expression  and 
education  are  still  strangely  separated  in 
organization,  but  their  fusion  in  America 
is  taking  form  in  the  beginnings  [as  yet 
groping  but  intensely  vital]  of  a  move- 
ment for  civic  pageantry,  the  implications 
of  which  are  as  wide  and  deep  as  democ- 
racy itself. 

45 


46  APPENDIX 

The  basic  conditions  of  these  beginnings 
are  discussed  in  my  vohimes  "The  Play- 
house and  The  Play"  [Macmillan,  1909] 
and  "The  Civic  Theatre"  [Mitchell 
Kennerley,  1912],  the  contents  of  which 
are  records  of  unofficial  campaigns  of 
lectures  and  speeches  in  many  parts  of 
the  United  States  in  the  cause  of  a  new 
"drama  of  democracy." 

Though  as  early  as  1905  I  began  work  in 
pageantry,  yet  not  until  1913-14  did  the 
opportunities  occur  for  me  to  carry  out 
definite  creative  contributions  to  the  art 
itself  of  such  a  civic  drama.  These 
opportunities  are  discussed  in  the  pref- 
aces of  my  books  "Sanctuary,"  a  Bird 
Masque  [F.  A.  Stokes,  1913],  and  "Saint 
Louis,"  a  Civic  Masque  [Doubleday 
Page,  1914].  It  is,  then,  not  as  a  specula- 
tive critic  that  I  make  these  suggestions 


APPENDIX  47 

regarding  a  Substitute  for  War,  but  as 
worker  in  a  potential  field  already  par- 
tially ploughed  and  sown. 

One  of  my  associates  at  Saint  Louis,  a 
civic  organizer  of  indomitable  faith  and 
executiveness,  Mr.  Luther  Ely  Smith, 
writes  as  follows  in  a  paper  on  "Munici- 
pal Pageants  as  Destroyers  of  Race 
Prejudice"  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Sagamore  [^lass.]  Sociological  Conference, 
July,  1914. 

"We  have  recently  passed  tlirough  a  vast 
experiment  in  democracy  in  Saint  Louis, 
which  tends,  among  other  things,  to  indicate 
one  method,  at  least,  in  which  the  artificial, 
irrational  national  prejudices  may  be  broken 
down. 

"  The  last  four  days  in  May  and  the  first 
day  in  June,  there  was  produced  the  Pageant 
and  Masque  of  Saint  Louis.  The  purpose  of 
those  who  originated  the  movement  was  to 
start,  if  possible,  a  movement  for  the  produc- 


48  APPENDIX 

tion  of  a  municipal  drama  on  a  sufficiently 
large  scale  to  make  possible  the  partici- 
pation of  every  section  and  neighborhood 
of  the  entire  city.  'If  we  learn  to  play 
together,  we  shall  work  together'  was  the 
keynote  of  the  undertaking.  The  site,  a 
noble  amphitheatre  upon  the  slopes  of  Art 
Hill  —  familiar  to  World's  Fair  Visitors  of 
1904  as  the  site  of  the  Cascades  —  was 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  undertaking,  both 
in  size  and  site. 

"The  cast  called  for  seven  thousand  five 
hundred  performers  and  a  chorus  of  six 
hundred  besides.  The  cast  committee 
undertook  the  selection  and  enrolment  of 
this  great  number  of  performers  upon  the 
basis  of  pure  democracy,  endeavoring  at  the 
same  time  to  see  that  all  sections  of  the  city 
were  fully  represented.  Many  organiza- 
tions offered  their  services  in  a  body,  but  for 
the  most  part  the  performers  were  enrolled 
as  individuals.  A  number  of  national 
societies  were  anxious  to  come  in  national 
costume.  This  request  it  seemed  impossible 
to    grant    until    Mr.    MacKaye    and    Mr. 


APPENDIX  49 

Joseph  Lindon  Smith  conceived  the  idea  of 
ha^'ing  the  parts  of  the  World  Adventurers 
in  the  Masque  taken  by  national  societies, 
ten  couples  representing  each  nation.  .  .  . 

"The  cast  were  constantly  brought  into 
close  contact  \\'ith  one  another  and  became 
rather  well  acquainted.  All  were  intent 
upon  doing  a  fine,  beautiful  thing  on  a  vast 
scale,  for  Saint  Louis.  They  were  all 
cooperating  toward  a  noble  end.  They 
were  all  'playing  together'  learning  'to 
work  together.'  A  member  of  the  Scotch 
national  group  on  the  day  of  the  last  per- 
formance said  to  one  of  the  pageant  masters, 
'You  know,  I  have  changed  my  ideas 
somewhat  about  these  "foreigners"  —  they 
aren't  half  bad  at  all.  .  .  .' 

"  Thoughts  which  result  to  me  personally 
from  this  vast,  successful  experiment  in  a 
democratic  undertaking  are  these : 

"1.  Give  the  people  a  big,  fine  ideal  to 
work  for  under  ennobling  conditions,  and 
they  will  rally  to  a  man  in  working  for  that 
ideal  —  and  no  one  wiW  work  harder  than 
the   so-called  'foreigners'    the    'alien   peo- 

E 


50  APPENDIX 

pies'  of  diflferent  races.  They  will  work 
miracles,  and  in  working  with  them  we  shall 
come  to  know  them  as  they  truly  are  and 
will  like  them  and  they  will  like  us;  the 
artificial  barriers  will  be  burned  away. 

"  2.  There  need  be  no  fear  of  '  the  south 
of  Europe.'  The  Italians,  Greeks,  and 
Croatians,  as  we  saw  them,  were  a  fine  type 
of  citizenship,  a  credit  to  us  and  a  credit  to 
the  land  from  which  they  sprung.  Give  the 
people  from  the  south  of  Europe  a  fair 
chance  and  they  will  make  fine  American 
citizens. 

"3.  Let  us  plan  in  every  city  to  have  a  big, 
broad,  fine,  noble  undertaking  at  least  once 
every  year  in  which  all  the  people  may  take 
part,  let  it  be  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale  so 
that  practically  every  neighborhood  and 
every  nationality  may  be  represented. 
It  will  not  answer  to  have  a  parade  or  a 
procession  or  something  spectacular  for  the 
people  to  look  at ;  they  must  take  part  in  it, 
they  must  themselves  be  a  part  of  it. 
When  they  take  part  in  so  fine  a  thing,  so 
democratic    a   thing   as    the  Pageant   and 


APPENDIX  51 

Masque  of  Saint  Louis,  beautifully  and 
grandly  done  by  Mr.  Stevens  and  Mr. 
MacKaye,  all  are  better  citizens,  all  barriers 
are  burned  away,  all  the  foreigners  are 
transfused  into  Americans,  our  race  or  na- 
tional antipathy  has  vanished. 

"  The  last  night,  at  the  close  of  the  per- 
formance, the  searchlights  on  the  Art 
Gallery  were  throwTi  upon  signs  on  each  side 
of  the  stage  reading  'Everybody  Sing.' 
The  chorus  came  out  from  behind  the 
mounds,  the  band  came  to  the  front  of  the 
stage,  and  all  the  actors  still  in  costume 
came  forward.  There  were  by  conservative 
estimate  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
people  seated  in  the  audience  at  that  time. 
The  Knight  Crusader  Saint  Louis  stood  in 
front  of  his  temple.  Imagination  and  Love 
immediately  before  him.  The  One  with  the 
Lilies,  The  One  with  the  Cross,  the  Earth 
Spirits,  Gold  and  other  figures  of  the  Masque 
were  on  the  mound ;  in  front,  on  the  stage, 
were  the  Pioneers,  the  Wild  Nature  Forces, 
Churchmen,  Sailors,  and  the  World  Adven- 
turers  in    their    national    costumes,    their 


52  APPENDIX 

flags  standing  out  stiff  in  the  smart  breeze 
blowing  from  the  southwest  —  Italians, 
French,  Danes,  Swedes,  Croatians,  Bava- 
rians, Greeks,  Norwegians,  Scotch,  all  of 
them,  and  that  vast  concourse  —  audience 
and  actors  —  did  what  it  was  said  to  be 
impossible  to  get  an  American  audience  to 
do,  sang,  and  sang  with  spiritual  enthusiasm, 
the  national  anthems,  first  'America'  and 
then  the  'Star  Spangled  Banner.' 

"It  was  like  a  transfiguration,  like  a 
vision  of  heaven  —  of  the  new  earth  that 
is  to  be.  There  was  no  race  or  national 
antipathy  then.  It  was  destroyed,  not  by 
logic  or  reason,  but  by  playing  together, 
working  together." 

This  "vast  successful  experiment"  at 
Saint  Louis,  with  its  permanent  political 
and  sociological  results,  constitutes  prob- 
ably the  largest-scale  demonstration  of 
the  new  method  of  social  science  advo- 
cated by  my  article  on  "A  Substitute  for 
War." 


APPENDIX  53 

This  new  method  was  further  discussed 
by  me  in  a  speech  on  "The  Need  of 
Dynamic  SjTnbols  for  Peace,"  deUvered 
before  the  Conference  on  International 
Relations  of  the  World  Peace  Founda- 
tion at  Cornell  [June  22,  1915],  where  it 
met  with  gratifying  approval  by  Mr. 
Norman  Angell  and  other  members  of 
the  Conference.  The  general  proposi- 
tions there  set  forth  have  recently  aroused 
the  enthusiastic  interest  of  certain  groups 
of  social  workers  to  put  these  principles 
further  into  practice  on  a  national  scale. 

To  this  end  a  Committee  of  the  Life 
Extension  Institute  of  New  York  has 
been  appointed  by  Ex-President  Taft, 
Chairman  of  the  Directors,  to  take  steps 
for  organizing  the  production,  in  several 
American  cities,  of  a  new  Masque,  which 
they  have  invited  me  to  write  and  produce. 


54  APPENDIX 

The  nature  of  the  Masque,  the  theme  of 
which  is  the  conservation  of  human  Hfe, 
has  already  enhsted  the  support  of  indi- 
viduals and  organizations  working  for 
constructive  peace  and  public  health. 
The  cooperation  of  all  social  workers  is 
earnestly  desired  and  will  be  welcomed 
by  the  General  Committee  to  whom 
communications  or  inquiries  may  be 
addressed  through  Mr.  Harold  A.  Ley, 
The  Life  Extension  Institute,  25  West 
45th  Street,  New  York  City. 

The  colossal  disaster  to  civilization  in 
Europe  calls  upon  the  neutral  world  for 
more  than  analytical  discussion ;  it  calls 
for  remedial  action.  Therefore,  in  case 
the  ideas  here  sanctioned  from  various 
viewpoints  by  Professor  Fisher,  Lord 
Bryce  and  Norman  Angell  should  prove 
capable  [however  gradually]  of  helping  to 


APPENDIX  55 

replace  militarism  and  war  by  a  peace 
militant  for  democracy  and  beauty,  it 
would  seem  wise  to  take  steps  to  put 
these  ideas  to  the  test,  not  once  only  but 
many  times. 

Last  year  Saint  Louis  organized  one 
such  important  test.  During  the  coming 
year  the  committee  of  The  Life  Extension 
Institute  proposes  to  organize  another. 

P.M. 

Cornish,  New  Hampshire 
August,  1915. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


'T'HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements 
of  Macmillan  boolcs  by  the  same  author. 


OTHER    WORKS  BY  PERCY  MACKA7E 


JUST    PUBLISHED 

The  New  Citizenship 

A  masque  or  "  ritual,"  as  the  author  calls  it,  which  presents 
in  simple  and  dramatic  form  the  dignity  and  importance  of  citi- 
zenship in  the  United  States.  It  is  well  suited  for  use  in  schools, 
particularly  where  there  is  a  large  foreign  element. 

Sistine  Eve,  and  Other  Poems 

A  New  Edition.     Cloth,  gilt  top,  j27no,  $I.3S 

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Jeanne  D'Arc 

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"  A  series  of  scenes  animated  at  times  by  a  sure,  direct,  and 
simple  poetry,  again  by  the  militant  fire,  and  finally  by  the 
bitter  pathos  of  the  most  moving,  perhaps  the  most  beautiful, 
and  certainly  the  most  inexplicable  story  in  profane  history." 

—  Philadelphia  Ledger. 

The  Canterbury  Pilgrims 

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"This  is  a  comedy  in  four  acts,- — a  comedy  in  the  higher 
and  better  meaning  of  the  term.  It  is  an  original  conception 
worked  out  with  a  rare  degree  of  freshness  and  buoyancy,  and 
it  may  honestly  be  called  a  play  of  unusual  interest  and  unusual 
literary  merit.  .  .  .  The  drama  might  well  be  called  a  charac- 
ter portrait  of  Chaucer,  for  it  shows  him  forth  with  keen  dis- 
cernment, a  captivating  figure  among  men,  an  intensely  human, 
vigorous,  kindly  man.  ...  It  is  a  moving,  vigorous  play  in 
action.  Things  go  rapidly  and  happily,  and,  while  there  are 
many  passages  of  real  poetry,  the  book  is  essentially  a  drama." 

—  St.  Paul  Dispatch. 


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By  PERCY   MACKAYE 

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"The  Present  Hour"  is  a  vital  expression  of  America  in 
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gripping  narrative  poem  "  Fight:  The  Tale  of  a  Gunner,"  and 
a  series  of  powerful  poems  dealing  with  the  great  struggle  in 
Europe.  Few  war-poems  of  the  many  published  in  this  country 
and  England  reveal  such  sincerity,  force,  and  imagery  as  these 
of  Mr.  Mackaye.  Among  them  are  "  American  Neutrality," 
"Peace,"  "Wilson,"  "  Louvain,"  "  Rheims,"  "The  Muffled 
Drums,""  Magna  Carta,"  "  France,""  A  Prayer  of  the  Peoples," 
etc.  The  second  section  (Peace)  includes  his  widely  read 
poems,  "  Goethals,"  "  Panama  Hymn,"  "  School,"  "  The  Heart 
in  the  Jar,"  and  other  representative  work.  The  volume  is  an 
important  addition  to  Mr.  Mackaye's  long  list  of  books  and 
a  valuable  contribution  to  the  poetry  of  our  time. 

"  The  first  book  of  poetry,  coming  out  of  the  present  Euro- 
pean conflict,  to  strike  home  with  conviction.  ...  '  School  ' 
is  perhaps  the  most  distinctly  American  poem  of  the  present 
time."  —  Boston  Transcript, 

"  There  is  much  that  is  fine,  vigorous,  picturesque  and 
genuinely  imaginative  in  this  collection  .  .  .  and  one  responds 
to  the  deep  patriotism  of  it  with  a  sincere  heart-throb  of  sym- 
pathy .  .  .  his  voice  is  one  of  the  few  today  worth  hearing." 

—  Bellman. 

"...  strikes  much  deeper  root  than  the  majority  of  the  work 
upon  this  subject  thus  far  produced."  —  N.  V.  Times. 

"  The  volume  as  a  whole  contains  Mr.  Mackaye's  best,  most 
authentically  inspired  poetry,  and  it  is  poetry  of  which  all  who 
speak  the  English  tongue  may  be  more  than  a  little  proud." 
—  Cinci}inati  Inquirer. 


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Sappho  and  Phaon 


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dignified,  eloquent,  passionate,  imaginative,  and  thoroughly 
human  in  its  emotions,  .  .  .  and  whether  considered  in  the  light 
of  literature  or  drama,  need  not  fear  comparison  with  anything 
that  has  been  written  by  Stephen  Phillips  or  John  Davidson.  .  .  . 
Masterfully  written  with  deep  pathos  and  unmistakable  poetic 
power."  —  N'eui  York  Evening  Post. 

Mater  :  An  American  Study  in  Comedy 

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have  conceived  and  written  a  play  in  which  the  elements  of 
seriousness  and  laughter  are  so  admirably  blended.  .  .  .  The 
dialogue  throughout  shows  Mr.  Mackaye  at  his  best  :  there  is  in 
it  life  and  light,  quick  movement,  and  outpouring  of  song."  — 
Book  N'ews  Monthly. 

Fenris,  the  Wolf 

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nobility  of  purpose.  It  is  a  work  to  dream  over,  to  make 
one  see  glorious  pictures,  —  a  work  to  uplift  to  soul  heights 
through  its  marvellously  wrought  sense  appeal."  —  Examiner. 

The  Scarecrow 

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"  A  delightful  and  significant  piece  of  philosophical  satire;  .  .  . 
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our  literature."  —  JVew  York  Mail. 


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The  Complete  Poetical  Works  of 
Geoffrey  Chaucer 

Now  first  put  into  Modern  English  by 

JOHN    S.    P.    TATLOCK 

Author  of  "  The  Development  and  Chronology  of  Chaucer's 
Works,"  etc. 

AND 

PERCY    MACKAYE 

Author  of"  The  Canterbury  Pilgrims,"  "Jeanne  D'Arc,"  etc. 

New  and  cheaper  edition,  -with  illustratiofts  in  black  and 

■white 

Cloth,  8vo,  $3.00  net  ;  leather,  boxed,  $S-00 

The  publication  of  The  Modern  Read/r's  Chaucer  is  a  pro- 
nounced success.  Presenting  as  it  does  the  stories  of  the  great 
bard  in  language  that  twentieth  century  readers  unversed  in  Old 
English  can  understand  and  enjoy,  it  opens  up  a  rich  store  of 
fascinating  literature.  This  cheaper  edition  of  the  work  is  de- 
signed with  the  purpose  of  still  further  increasing  its  usefulness. 
It  departs  in  no  way  from  the  original  except  in  the  matter  of 
illustrations,  all  of  which  are  rendered  in  black  and  white.  The 
binding,  too,  is  simpler,  being  uniform  with  the  binding  of  the 
one  volume  edition  of  The  Modern  Reader's  Bible.  The  text 
remains  unchanged. 

"  The  version  not  only  maintains  the  spirit  and  color,  the  rich 
humor  and  insight  into  human  nature,  of  the  original,  but  is  of 
itself  a  literary  delight." —  The  Argonaitt. 

"  Those  who  have  at  times  attempted  to  struggle  through  the 
original  text  with  the  aid  of  a  glossary,  will  welcome  this  new 
form."  —  Graphic,  Los  A  ttgeles. 

"  Chaucer  is  now  readable  by  hundreds  where  before  he  was 
not  accessible  to  dozens.  The  book  is  a  veritable  mine  of  good 
stories.  .  .  .  The  volume  can  be  heartily  recommended  to  all 
lovers  of  the  lasting  and  the  permanent  in  literature."  —  fCen- 
tucky  Post. 

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